Monthly Archives: February 2012

I am right in the middle of my winter vacation sitting here thinking I’m dwindling my precious free time away. Why is it when I have free time at home I must get a hundred things crossed off my list? Why can’t I just pretend that I am at the beach? I never make out a “To Do List” at the beach. So if you have some precious time that you don’t want to spend in the kitchen this is just the recipe for something quick and easy that will satisfy every hearty appetite.

These could be the best brownies that you have ever had. They are chewy, chocolaty, nutty, and absolutely out of this world! With the added caramel frosting it puts them way over the top. I will confess that at first I did not have such good results with this recipe. In fact, it was rather dismal. I get crazy when a recipe does not go like I think it should. You might say to the point of being obsessive. Perfection sometimes is my downfall. I don’t want to settle for mediocre.

In looking for something a new and exciting recipe to share with my tennis team the photo of these brownies in my 2006 Southern Living Cookbook would not stop dancing in my head. I made them, but not with the results that I had anticipated. I did take the less than perfect brownies to my tennis match and one of our opponents walked over to GI Joe and me blubbering , ” I just want to tell you that after eating these brownies, I would like to marry you.” So then I was on a mission to make them perfectly! By the way I could have been this guy’s mother.

Teenagers love Valentine’s Day! It’s not just about boyfriends and girlfriends. They want to share the day with their friends and families and sometimes their teachers. School was really buzzing today with candy, flowers, cards, stuffed animals, cake, cookies, and balloons. There was some buzz around my room, too. Word got out that I was decorating Valentine Cakes for my classes and you would have thought I was giving away one hundred-dollar bills. It was only cake and not even one made from scratch!

One word could describe our guest speaker last week Doug Wasdyke and that would be WOW! We were so fortunate to be able to have Chef Doug visit my classes and share his expertise. It was a day to remember. It is not often that high school students get to meet an executive chef and are able to get first hand information about the culinary field. As soon as he stepped into my classroom I knew that we were in for a treat. He was very much at ease with each class. It was as if he had been teaching high school students his entire life. Before I had taken attendance he enlisted the help of a student with the cooking while he did the talking. They loved him. Now at little bit about Chef Doug.